A guide to the Champions Trophy

Kane Williamson. Photos: Getty Images

Cricket tournaments are a dime a dozen these days. What exactly is the Champions Trophy? Adrian Seconi explains.

Format

The top-ranked eight ODI teams have been split into two groups of four.

They play three round robin games with the top two teams from each pool progressing to the semifinals and the final if they are good enough.

The teams

Group A: Bangladesh, India, New Zealand, Pakistan

Group B: Afghanistan, Australia, England, South Africa

Previous winners

1998: South Africa

2000: New Zealand

2002: India and Sri Lanka

Shubman Gill.

2004: West Indies

2006 & 2009: Australia

2013: India

2017: Pakistan

Prizemoney

The winners get $S2.24 million ($NZ3.92m). The runners-up get half that and the losing semifinalists will cash a cheque for $US560,000. Even the teams that finish seventh and eighth take home $US140,000. It is a money scramble.

Black Caps draw

Tonight: v Pakistan

Feb 23: v Bangladesh

March 2: v India

Semifinals: March 4 & 5

Final: March 9

Games to watch

• Pakistan host New Zealand in the opener tonight. The Black Caps beat them twice during the recent tri-nations series. But Pakistan always seem to find a way to best New Zealand at global tournaments.

• February 23. India v Pakistan at a neutral venue in Dubai. It is more war than cricket.

• The Ashes is bigger but the group B fixture between Australia and England in Lahore on February 22 should be a good watch. Australia are down some bowling talent, though. Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins are out with injury. And Mitchell Starc has pulled out for personal reasons.

Players to watch

• India opener Shubman Gill was impressive during the recent ODI series against England. He clobbered 259 runs at an average of 86.33 during the three-game series, including a century in the final game.

• Sometimes we forget how good Kane Williamson is at white-ball cricket too. The New Zealander has not played a lot of one-day cricket since the 2019 World Cup, yet somehow he has got even better. Has an average closing in on 50.

• South African kingpin Kagiso Rabada leads the Proteas attack. He has clocked more than 100 ODIs and he is crucial to how deep his team will get in the tournament.